On March 13, 1964, at 2:30 am, a woman named Kitty Genovese was returning home from work. As she arrived outside her apartment, a man approached her with a knife. Genovese ran towards her apartment but was stabbed and killed.

The murder itself is not what made this event noteworthy. It is known for the number of witnesses who heard the attack but did not call the police or intervene.

When this was reported to the media, it put the case in the national spotlight and led to the development of the psychological phenomenon known as the bystander effect.